We are pleased to announce — on International Women’s Day — a series of concerts around the globe to celebrate its 20th anniversary season and the collective power of women in classical music. Performances will be held ten different major cities in the U.S. and Europe from September 2022 to May 2023.
Sep 13–14: Madrid, Spain
Oct 11–17: Nova Scotia, Canada
Nov 12–13: Reno, NV
Nov 17–18: London, UK
Nov 18–22: Graz, Austria
Jan 25–29: Richmond, VA
Feb 10–12: Hartford, CT
March 3: Philadelphia, PA
April 13–14: Katowice, Poland
May 3: Chicago, IL
By Hanna Edgar, Chicago Tribune
If you miss Marin Alsop on the podium at Orchestra Hall this weekend — well, first of all, don’t.
Though she and orchestra representatives won’t confirm one way or the other, Alsop, who made history as the first woman to become music director of a major American orchestra when she assumed leadership of the Baltimore Symphony in 2007, is widely assumed to be among the front-runners for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s music director post once Riccardo Muti concludes his contract extension in 2023.
The Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship is pleased to announce its 2022-24 Fellow Anna Duczmal-Mróz along with two Associate Fellows Irene Delgado-Jimenez and Marie Rosenmir and three award recipients Kalena Bovell, Julia Cruz, and Anna Sułkowska-Migoń.
New collaboration with AT&T's “She's Connected” program also announced, empowering women with mentorship opportunities. As part of the collaboration, Alsop and a TACF-mentored conductor will be featured in the She's Connected campaign shared across digital and social platforms.
Exit Statement from Chloe van Soeterstede, TACF Fellow 2019-2021
It was a privilege to be chosen by Marin Alsop as the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellow for 2019-2021. My tenure was full of sharp turns and novel challenges due to the Covid pandemic which took hold in 2020. From the very start I felt welcomed into the Taki Alsop Fellowship family, exchanging emails, thoughts, and advice with our community of conductors. Marin has always been there for me when I needed her support, when I had questions or doubts. When we could not meet in person during the most restrictive part of the pandemic lockdown, we instead met quite regularly on Zoom for mentoring...
Good Morning America
It's still rare to see a woman conduct an opera — and rarer still to see a pregnant woman conducting an opera. That's what made Russian American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya's December 2021 all the more eye-catching.
The Chicago Opera Theater music director conducted the opening of the Mark Adamo opera "Becoming Santa Claus" in Chicago on Dec. 11. Five days later, she gave birth. And three days after that, she was back at the podium to conduct the closing of "Becoming Santa Claus."
"When I started conducting, people told me that women shouldn't be doing this job because of its physical demands," she wrote in a Twitter thread on Wednesday. "They never could explain to me what exactly those extreme demands might be — they certainly aren't much compared to childbirth!"
Marin Alsop has been named the Aspen Institute’s Harman/Eisner Artist-in-Residence for 2021-22. In the role, she will draw on her wealth of experience as an artist and thought leader to engage in critical discussions about key social and civic issues, and participate in programming and other activities in Aspen, New York, Washington, D.C., and nationwide. The Aspen Institute’s Arts Program focuses on connecting artists and citizens in addressing some of society’s most complex problems. The first event is a live discussion with former 2020-21 Harman/Eisner Artist-in-Residence Oskar Eustis as a part of the “Conversations with Great Leaders” series.
To learn more about the Aspen Institute Arts Program and the Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence Program, click here.
"As Marin Alsop leaves the Baltimore Symphony after 14 years, the field is taking a step backward: 25 major American orchestras, no female music directors."
Anthony Tommasini
Taiwanese American conductor Mei-Ann Chen officially takes on the post of principal conductor of recreation - Grosses Orchester Graz at Styriarte beginning this fall, making her the first female Asian conductor to serve as chief conductor of the ensemble. She is also one of the first female Asian conductors to hold such a position with an Austrian orchestra
The new five-year post with recreation - Grosses Orchester Graz at Styriarte is Ms. Chen’s first major European appointment. In addition to her role with Styriarte, Mei-Ann Chen is music director of the MacArthur Award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta since 2011, making her the first Asian female conductor to lead the orchestra as its second music director, and is the first-ever artistic partner of Houston’s ROCO (River Oaks Chamber Orchestra) (since 2019).
This new podcast explores the limits between music styles and why we create so many labels to define them. Maestro Arrieche will be interviewing iconic figures from both classical and pop music, to find where the boundaries are and how to break through them.
Accepted and to be screened at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival:
The Conductor, directed by Bernadette Wegenstein, written by Bernadette Wegenstein and Stefan Fauland. Produced by Annette Porter. (United States) - World Premiere, Feature Documentary. In this exhilarating documentary, Leonard Bernstein’s protégée Marin Alsop reveals how she smashed the glass ceiling to become an internationally renowned conductor.
The Opéra national de Lorraine announced the appointment of Polish conductor Marta Gardolińska as its next Music Director. The three-year appointment commences from the 2021/22 season and will see Marta conduct at least ten weeks in Nancy, including symphonic concerts.
The Lexington Philharmonic is proud to announce the appointment of Kelly Corcoran as Interim Artistic Advisor. The Interim Artistic Advisor is a new position created to provide artistic guidance during the 2020-2021 season and beyond, until LexPhil is able to safely resume the Music Director & Conductor Search.
